Patch Grief with Proverbs
by HYPERFocused
Summary: Jonathan's in jail with too much time to think, and no parables to get him out of this jam. slight ClarkLex slash


Disclaimer: I don't own Clark, Lex, Martha, Lionel, or Jonathan. I don't even own Jonathan's dog eared copy of Roget's Thesaurus, or the hat some say he wears on his ass.  
  
This is for Alax's Shakespeare Challenge. The title comes from   
  
Patch grief with proverbs.  
  
*Much Ado about Nothing. Act v. Sc. 1*  
  
___  
  
Six hours in the Smallville jail, and Jonathan still doesn't know why he's there. He's heard Ethan tell him what he supposedly did, but he can't possibly believe it's true. He doesn't know what brought him to this place, this state of mind. It's been the worst winter of his life. Cold he can feel all the way through his bones, it hits him like Clark's X-ray vision. He feels changed, and not for the better.  
  
With no cattle to feed, or tractors to repair, Jonathan has nothing but time to think. There's a pressing need to reassess his life. Sober now, he's searching for answers. Introspection has never been his strong suit. He can find a saying for every situation, but couldn't give an original thought about how they fit his life.  
  
More and more, Jonathan Kent has no idea what to say to his son. He can feel Clark drifting away from him. His words sound stilted and cliched even before they've left his mouth. It's been a long time since his hand on Clark's shoulder has been any kind of steadying presence.  
  
He watches Clark, and how he interacts with his friends. He can see the boy changing, too. Part of it he blames on Lex's twisted, manipulative friendship, but not all. Clark's secrets have changed how he interacts with Pete, Lana and Chloe, too. It's a damn shame, but a necessary one.   
  
Whitney's loss hit them all pretty hard. All those miles away, yet it felt more real than the bizarre deaths that seemed to befall various Smallville denizens, right under Clark's nose. Whitney had been a good kid, the kind of boy Jonathan had imagined having for a son.  
  
He had always been a little disappointed that Whitney and Clark had never really become friends. He'd have been a more positive influence on Clark than Lex ever could be. A fine, upstanding *local* family, and Whitney obviously knew the value of hard work. No, had known.   
  
Jonathan figured a lot of it was his fault, he'd discouraged Clark from becoming involved in the kinds of team sports and activities the Fordman boy had played, thereby reducing opportunities for them to hang out. He didn't see any way around it, though; if Clark had been careless...  
  
Jonathan hates himself when he has these thoughts. He loves his son, wouldn't trade him for any other child on the face of the earth -- or off of it. And if Clark is growing into altogether a different sort of adult than he'd expected, well, that's par for the course. His son has never fit the mold exactly. Jonathan knows it's his own preconceptions and prejudices he needs to overcome.  
  
Lately, he doesn't know what to say to Martha, either. He doesn't want to come across as a jealous Neanderthal, but the thought of her spending this much time with Lionel just boils his blood. No matter how often she tells him she can handle herself -- and she's proven time and time again that she can -- he worries. Lionel is dangerous. Even blind and injured, he's a threat to their family's safety and peace of mind.  
  
Jonathan doesn't like to think how close he came to losing his marriage this week. Fighting with Martha the way he did scared him almost as much as learning she was being held hostage with Lionel. He was ashamed to admit he worried she wouldn't even want to come home to him, after possibly sharing comfort with her boss. Not that he didn't trust her, normally. But Lionel was a snake among men. A snake, and a rat, and a weasel -- Jonathan could populate a zoo with animal metaphors for the bastard.  
  
Martha didn't think he was a bastard. Jonathan knows this. Working for Lionel is a reminder of the kind of life she left behind. Farm life just can't be as exciting as her youth in Metropolis. She always says she's happy, and would not trade their family and home for anything, but sometimes Jonathan wonders if that's true. He can see the gleam in her eyes now that she has all this new responsibility.   
  
The hostage situation had thrown Martha for a loop. She'd had no misconceptions about Lionel's work ethics. Even Jonathan admitted her influence on him seemed to be a good one. Slowly but surely, he seemed to be changing. She may have had to coach it in terms of profits over progress, but the results were what mattered.   
  
She'd been shocked to find Lionel's vault, with its collection of meteor rocks, and a file on Clark. Jonathan and Martha both wished there had been time to see what was in the file. (It would be one thing if Lionel was investigating him because of Clark's friendship -- relationship -- with Lex. Quite another if he suspected the whole truth about his origins.   
  
Twenty-twenty hindsight can be a bitch, he thinks. If only he had found this new level of maturity earlier. He wouldn't have run off at the mouth threatening Lionel, and therefore, wouldn't be stuck in this holding cell -- again. Jonathan has no memory of shooting Lionel. It's not his style, and certainly well out of his moral code. But he has to admit, he was angry enough to think about it; maybe even angry enough to act first, think later.  
  
That was what he did all those years ago, in reaction to Martha's father. Lashed out in fury, when he should have risen above it. He might have used his brain to prove himself worthy, instead of using his fists to cement the man's view of him as an ignorant thug.  
  
Perhaps he'd have the help of a top notch lawyer, now. Jonathan still thought his father-in-law was an ass, but he was an ass who won his cases. God knows he could use his help now. He's never been in such a fix, and Clark's gifts can't save him.  
  
Not that Clark won't try. Jonathan is still ashamed of the way he reacted to his son's offer of help yesterday. Of course Clark was upset to see his parents fighting. It was something he couldn't *fix*. Clark tries to fix everything.  
  
He doesn't know what made him react so obnoxiously to Lex, and his offer of the helicopter. Part of it was just hating that he knew there was trouble in the Kent household. It wasn't any of his business. Nothing to do with his family was, Lex had insinuated himself into the picture yet again. Typical Luthorian attitude.   
  
Jonathan had to admit, though, it had been gutsy to call him on the platitudes. If he hadn't been so angry at the whole situation, he would have laughed. Sometimes, he thinks, he could almost like Lex. Of course, he'd like him more if Lex weren't so *interested* in Clark. It isn't helping Clark's quest for "normalcy."  
  
It scares Jonathan a little, how quickly the unusual has become the norm for him. The Reader's Digest "Drama in Real Life" people would laugh their asses off if he tried to submit some of Smallville's goings on. He wishes he could find answers to his questions in such old familiar places. He's rapidly discovering that Bartlett's Quotations, and Guideposts magazine hold no real connections to his life.  
  
The ultimate proof of that was in his reunion with Martha, at LuthorCorp last night. All the time he'd been waiting for her to be rescued, he'd wondered what he was going to say to her, what words could possibly make up for his behavior, ruining their anniversary.   
  
As it turned out, there had been no words possible, or even necessary-just the feel of her in his arms -- a kind of peace and safety he expects never to feel again. 


End file.
